Lauren Baines
Choreographer | Curator | Catalyst
Site Dance & Performance Installations
Site-specific performance "An offering: for endings and beginnings" created for Tiffany Singh's "The Bells of Mindfulness" (2013). Still from film by San Jose State University Film Production Society.
Site-specific performance "An offering: for endings and beginnings" created for Tiffany Singh's "The Bells of Mindfulness" (2013). Still from film by San Jose State University Film Production Society.
Site-specific performance "An offering: for endings and beginnings" created for Tiffany Singh's "The Bells of Mindfulness" (2013). Still from film by San Jose State University Film Production Society.
Site-specific performance "An offering: for endings and beginnings" created for Tiffany Singh's "The Bells of Mindfulness" (2013). Still from film by San Jose State University Film Production Society.
An offering: for endings and beginnings
The Bells of Mindfulness
by artist Tiffany Singh
In 2013, I was asked by New Zealand artist Tiffany Singh to create a performance to activate her installation The Bells of Mindfulness at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA. The resulting site-specific performance ritual, An offering: for endings and beginnings, addressed the cyclical nature of life and the possibilities for simultaneous death and rebirth to aspects of our lives.
Singh's The Bells of Mindfulness is a social practice artwork created to examine the role of sacred space in contemporary society. "Drawing on the Buddhist tradition of using temple bells as an aid for mindfulness, she has suspended 1000 handmade and fairly traded metal bells and 1000 paper cranes attached to brightly colored ribbons from a persimmons tree in Montalvo’s Italianate Garden, creating a tranquil space for rest and reflection." - Montalvoarts.org
After the performance, guests were invited to take a bell and bring it to a space they considered a sacred space, and then to submit an image of the bell in its new home and story about their sacred space. With these posts, Singh is creating an online tapestry charting the dissemination of the bells.
To learn more about Singh's work, please visit her website here or on Montalvo's website here
You can see a short documentary on Singh's installation including footage from my performance at left.
Kermesse: A Site Dance Event
I developed a site-specific dance procession ritual for Mills College to activate under-utilized and forgotten sites around the perimeter of the Mills campus.
Through movement, music, and storytelling the roaming performance brings attention to the history of structures, sites, and traditions of Mills since its founding.
The piece was performed in May 2015.
Footage and photographs forthcoming.
Edible Dress Tent
2012, 2013, 2015
In 2012, I had the opportunity to first embody the role of Urban Farmer for the amazing Edible Dress Tent by Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao.
Yes, that is me atop the structure, watering the garden below. I activated the dress tent for this photo as well as several events at Montalvo in 2012 and 2013 including the Gala, two Yelp elite events, a circus event, and other festivals. In 2015, I was comissioned to create a new activation of the sculpture for the Rock the Garden party in association with the 75th anniversary of the residency program.
Commissioned by Montalvo Arts Center the Edible Dress Tent responds the history and architecture of its site, as well as the contemporary trend of urban farming. It comes as part of their series Dress Tents that addresses various myths and fantasies around women.
To learn more about this piece, please visit http://montalvoarts.org/sculpture/edible_dress_tent/
To read more about the 75th anniversary celebration, visit http://montalvoarts.org/residencyanniversary/
Stills from video footage taken by Bette Linderman
Reflection: A Sequence of Events
In 2012, Bay Area artist Ernest Jolly invited me to create a site-specific performance for his installation Re-imagine. The resulting solo, Reflection: A Sequence of Events, addresses ideas of reflection, contemplation, and internal struggle.
Teenage Wasteland
In 2011, to celebrate the first Rock the Garden party at Montalvo Arts Center in conjunction with their Art on the Grounds program, I choreographed and organized a flash mob to perform on the Front Lawn in front of the historic Villa - built in 1912 by James Duval Phelan.